SAN JOSE — Mark Bell will return to the Sharks’ lineup tonight against Chicago after being scratched in the previous three games. With Joe Pavelski needing a rest because of his sore foot, Bell will skate on a line with Patrick Marleau and Bill Guerin.

This is Bell’s latest chance to start burying the frustration, injuries and unfulfilled expectations that have riddled his first season as a Shark since being acquired from the Blackhawks last summer.

Bell, of course, got off to a rocky start in San Jose when police charged him in a DUI case over Labor Day weekend. (He has pleaded not guilty.)

But his hockey situation was still shaping up favorably. He was working on the top line with Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo throughout training camp, then scored a big goal late in the third period to help the Sharks win the season opener.

He hurt his wrist and groin in the second game of the season and hasn’t really recovered. He has just eight goals after bagging a

career-high 25 last season, and his minus-11 rating is worst among the club’s forwards.

“It’s been a tough year mentally,” Bell said. “Sometimes when your mind is not as strong as it should be, the body follows. Maybe that’s what happened to me.”

Bell, who hadn’t missed a game in the previous three seasons, already has sat out 11 with the Sharks. That hasn’t had been enough down time to allow his various ailments to heal, but his recent three-game hiatus has helped.

“I’ve tried to battle through it,” Bell said. “You keep taking the pain pills every game, but I kept wearing down and wearing down. It was time for a little rest.”

Although his season hasn’t shaped up the way he or anyone else could have envisioned, Bell said it has been a valuable experience.

“I think I’m a better all-around player today than I was a year ago,” he said. “Things I did in Chicago ended up on the score sheet. Here with the Sharks, I’m 26 years old, and the coaching staff is teaching me things that are going to help this team win games, and that’s what we all want.”

Coach Ron Wilson said Bell has improved his work along the boards, defensive-zone coverage and forechecking in a way the Sharks prefer.

Perhaps just as important, Wilson said Bell has been receptive to learning a new style — the Sharks play one of the league’s higher tempo games — while also phasing out negative tendencies.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get a guy to do something he hasn’t done in seven or eight years,” Wilson said. “When you’re on a team that doesn’t win, it’s human nature that you go into a self-preservation mode. With a forward, that would be taking care of trying to score goals, and then you inadvertently create bad habits.”

Because of Wilson’s preference to push the pace on the ice, it puts a premium on cardio conditioning. Wilson suspected Bell might struggle with that this season, because this is his first with the club.

“It’s difficult to improve yourself conditioning-wise from the start of the season if you’re already behind the 8-ball, but he genuinely has,” Wilson said. “It’s to his credit that he’s worked as hard as anybody on the team, and he’s in much better shape now than at the beginning.”

The Sharks have 13 games until the end of the regular season. They are hoping Bell can use them to find a rhythm and contribute more than just toughness.

Bell leads the team with eight fighting majors. His bout against Anaheim’s Shane O’Brien in December was particularly memorable, because the Sharks trailed 2-0 at the time, then rallied to win.

“You’ve just got to persevere and do what you can for the team,” Bell said.

Wilson said: “He’s gotten into probably more fights than he should’ve — but for all the right reasons.”

Bell is particularly eager to participate in the playoffs, because he hasn’t done it since he was a rookie in 2002.

“Things haven’t gone the way I’ve liked, but we have a great team here, a deep team,” Bell said. “You’ve just got to swallow your pride, do what’s best for the team. I’m just trying to get healthy first. I want to be a guy that’s counted on when the playoffs start.

“I’d trade my 25 goals in Chicago to be on this team in a second. If we win the Stanley Cup, no one will remember my stats during the season.”

"The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive," said Jim Pasco, executive director at the National Fraternal Order of Police. "But storing all the data that they collect - that cost is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them."